KITES AND COLOURS

Apart from the technical stuff ( the bleeching of fluorescent colours: keep them out of the sun! ) and constructional do's and don'ts ( make the profiles of a foil white: easier sewing and it does not interfere with the colors of the foil when it shines through) there is also the estethical side.
Choosing colors is more difficult than most people think.

colors

Hardly anybody does this, but take some time, make a pencil drawing of your kite-to-be and copy it 10 or 20 times. Then start filling in the panels with different colors. You'll see that with different patterns you can change the appearance of the kite completely....

Another thing that I noticed is that most people (and manufacturers) that build a complicated kite with lots of panels seem to have the urge to give each panel a different color...or at least never use the same color in neighbouring panels. It may look impressive if you're looking close-up but once up in the air the result is mostly that the colors fade into each other and the design is lost.
Remember, a kite is a long way away if you see it ( more so for single line ) and the design has to be based on that.

The best advice I can give is: Go to a library and find a book on flags... they are designed to look good and to be recognized from a distance. There is a lot to be learned here....

BTW: Green for a kite has been out since the famous Cody started the rumour that green kites are a sure way to trouble. He refused to make green kites all his life. Eversince you see very few green kites.......


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